Linda Fairstein was a trailblazer among women lawyers our age (I'm only 2 years younger), who put the prosecution of people who prey upon and abuse women on the map. She was a heroine, and her being characterized as a "villain" in the wake of the "Central Park 5" prosecution is outrageous & false on too many levels to list in this comment. That said, I will start by noting that while I had no "inside information" @ the case, I did see the public coverage...including a video in which the mother of one of the 5 literally smacked her son with her handbag as he confessed to being involved in the attack on the jogger, yelling "you did what???" And at least 3 of the other 5 also had a parent present during the police interrogation. I wd also note that Linda Fairstein was not the in-court prosecutor of the case (Ms. Fairstein was the unit's supervisor; the in-court prosecutor was Elizabeth Lederer), and Ms. Lederer, in her opening remarks to the jury (as I recall) stated forthrightly that the semen found in/on the jogger did not match the DNA of any of the 5 defendants...she said up-front that they knew an unidentified man was also involved. The arresting officer (again, as I recall) was an African-American man, responding to reports of "assaults" in Central Park, and when one of the suspects he arrested blurted-out, while being transported to the police precinct, "I didn't kill the lady," the officer had no idea what he was talking about. The victims about whom the officer knew (at the time) had not suffered life-threatening injuries...and, moreover, as far as was known at the time, the two victims who suffered the worst injuries were men (not "ladies"). The nearly-dead "lady" jogger was not found for a few hours later. Ultimately, years later, the guy who did the "actual rape" was identified, through his DNA and his own confession, in which he said he acted alone...although medical experts have opined that the jogger's injuries & the location where she was found suggested that more than one person was involved in the assault. Regardless, there were multiple evidence-based reasons to charge the 5 defendants, and no evidence to support the allegation that the prosecution of the Central Park 5 was brought in bad faith...let alone that Linda Fairstein orchestrated a bogus prosecution. It shd also be kept in mind that Ms. Fairstein had indicated/announced her intention to run for Manhattan DA against the long-serving (90 year old?) DA Morgenthau...typically, the DA wd fight any lawsuit alleging a bad faith prosecution...but not in this case. Instead, Morgenthau uncharacteristically folded like a tent, and destroyed Linda Fairstein's solid reputation in one stroke. Anyone want to talk about bad faith?